Very Important Corpses

Very Important Corpses (2017) Simon R. Green

This is the third Ishmael Jones mystery.

The Organization is sending Ishmael and Penny to Scotland (to that very famous Loch in fact) to provide security for a gathering where one agent has already been murdered, and it’s probable the House has been infiltrated by one or more spies.

(T)hey were all ages and races; and they had the air of aristocrats at Court, or even Knights of the Round Table. But that was only in their minds. My first thought was that they all looked like accountants.

If there is a theme to this series so far, it’s summed up in this passage:

‘You really believe in this creature?’ I said.

‘Monsters are real,’ said the Major Domo.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘They are. But people kill a lot more people than monsters ever do.’

Like other Simon R. Green books, everything is over the top. Which is fine, because that’s precisely what I expect.

Where I was a little disappointed was that Ishmael felt far more John Taylor here than I thought he did in the previous books. That’s nothing wrong with John Taylor, but I really like the idea of an alien pretending to be a human, so it was a little disappointing to feel Ishmael channeling John Taylor.

The mystery also felt a little weaker here–I was pretty sure of at least one of the characters who was involved, and it felt like there were more questions raised than resolved. Not cliff-hangers mind you, just things left hanging.

I have the next book, so I’ll read it eventually, but I’ll take a pause for now, because as much as I enjoy Simon R Green’s stories, they do sometimes get a little repetitive when read one after another. (Not that stories, but the dialog.)

Publisher: Severn House Digital
Rating: 7/10

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